Source:WOTRR 3 January 2011
'Brandon's Wheel of Time Reread on Twitter - 3 January 2011' Brandon on Twitter - 3 January 2011 Happy New Year, all. It is official--I have begun working on A Memory of Light, 14th and final book of the Wheel of Time. Brandon I have updated the progress bars on my website with this year's tasks. I'll try to be better about keeping them current. Brandon The first step is to re-read the entire Wheel of Time. TofM had some small continuity errors--mostly me forgetting who knows what. Brandon We fixed them for the paperback, but it is a sign that I'm starting to forget details. That means I need to re-read Mr. Jordan's work. Brandon By the way, I did get a Nook for my birthday. So I'm in the process of getting e-copies of the WoT uploaded. Brandon Since people are asking, the continuity errors were things like Grady telling Perrin about the Cleansing as if for the first time, but... Brandon ...there's a line in KoD where Perrin notes that they'd mentioned it to him. We don't see the conversation, but it's there in narrative. AJ Zaethe Need a devout reader of the Wheel of Time to watch over what you are writing so they can be like. "He died in book 5." "oh" Brandon The thing is, I had eight of those for TofM. They all missed these too. It was the time crunch that did it to us, I think. Benjamin Peacock No biggie, but did you fix for ebook by chance? Brandon Yes, it should be all fixed for the ebook. Michelle Anders Also the fact that Min's viewings aren't always around Aes Sedai when they are supposed to be. Brandon I'm working on the assumption (as she's said before) that she doesn't always pay attention to them, as there's so many of them. Brandon Yes, I will be live tweeting/blogging my re-read. Should have some fun things to post about the WoT as I go. Brandon Some are asking if my tweets/blogs will have spoilers for WoT books. I'll try to keep those to a minimum. But there will be some. Matt Hatch Have you considered using a hashtag for your WoT re-read tweets? Would make it easier for fans to follow and participate. Brandon Yeah, but I always forget to put in the hashtags... Matt Hatch Pick a hashtag. We can always retweet the stuff you forget to tag. That's what HCFFs are for, right? Matt Hatch Want to join in the re-read fun? @BrandonSandrson is tweeting as he goes. Use this hashtag #wotrr to follow and comment as it progresses. Brandon Man, I love the EotW prologue. Some of my favorite writing in the entire series. Great insight into Ishamael's personality pre-madness. Brandon People like to talk of Rand's character development. Elan -> Ishamael -> Moridin is almost as interesting to me. His outlook has evolved so much. Justin Lee Has it really evolved? he's still the megalomanical favorite/topdog he's always seen himself to be. Brandon No, he's really changed a lot. He's a fatalist now, as I mentioned to @dragonmount. He knows far more. Jason Denzel How would you compare Ishamael's motivations from when he was Elan vs when he was Moridin? Brandon Elan is actually more selfish. He still thinks he will rule, that the Dark One will take over the world and create a new one. Brandon Moridin has been through madness and touched the mind of the Dark One. He is far more fatalistic, and actually less selfish. Terez And therefore...less predictable? :) Brandon I was wondering if anyone would pick up on that quote1 in relation to my tweet. Austin Moore Is it wrong for me to have been under the impression that Moridin isn't "mad?" I've thought he was less mad than he was... Austin Moore ...as Ishamael. Mad being crazy not mad being evil because obviously he's evil. Brandon Moridin is less insane than Ishamael was. Much as Rand is less insane than Lews Therin was. Azral Joe You say Moridin is less selfish. Is he now a Dark Buddha wanting to end the suffering of existence in the nirvana of oblivion? Brandon It's not that he's unselfish. But compare his lines in EotW and KoD or TofM to see the difference. Derek Daniels Never did figure out what it is exactly that killed Lews Therin in the prologue. Thoughts after reread? Brandon It's a toss up between getting consumed by holding too much Power and getting struck by that bolt of energy from the sky. Amy Farmer Out of curiosity, why aren't you starting with New Spring? Useful continuity stuff there. Brandon I like reading New Spring when it was released. Feels better to me there. Brandon The first wind is in the Mountains of Mist; I've always assumed this was a nod to Tolkien's Misty Mountains.2 Brandon Look in The Way of Kings on the full map of Roshar for something similar.3 Shecky X Well, his Charlestonian background makes the "Two Rivers" the Charleston area, so the "Mountains of Mist" may be... Shecky X ... the Smoky Mountains, upstate from his home. (FYI: the Charleston area is defined by the Ashley and Cooper Rivers.) Brandon Nice note. I'd never known that. Lynn Oliver Listening to WoT on audiobook, first time through series. Book 1 seems heavily influenced by Tolkien so far. Brandon Yes, book one is very Tolkien influenced. Very. Book two less so. It's almost gone by book three. Brandon Reading this book, I'm reminded of how deeply Dragonsteel (one of my foundational, yet, unpublished works) was influenced by the WoT's start. Brandon Actually, of the three fantasy epics I wrote during my early years--Dragonsteel, Elantris, & White Sand--Elantris was the least WoT-like. Terez Elantris in a way reminded me of King's Eyes of the Dragon, with the fairy-tale-like writing style. Brandon I love Eyes of the Dragon. Might be an unconscious influence. Brandon Reading the start of EOTW reminds me that there's an extra person in the cover art. (More obvious in the secondary, inside piece, I think.) neonorange00 In the EotW cover there's only Moraine, Lan, and one boy to the side. Am I looking at the wrong one? Brandon There are two covers. One ended up on the inside flaps. The outer one wraps around, though, and I think he's in both. Brandon Here's the secondary cover: http://bit.ly/hZu0Uw Brandon HCFFs already know who that person is, but it's a fun easter egg to know that there's a story behind that extra figure. Brandon Mr. Jordan wrote a large chunk of EotW with a fourth Two Rivers lad going along with Perrin, Mat, and Rand. Was to be a major character. Brandon Harriet talked him out of it, pointing out that the 4th lad never did anything useful. @theoryland, do you guys have a good thread on him? Terez Nah, nothing to talk about really. But here is RJ saying that: http://bit.ly/RJ-BN2000 Brandon I've asked Harriet if she could dig up any of the old manuscript with the Fourth ta'veren in it, but she's not certain they have any. Brandon She said she thinks he was Dannil, but couldn't remember for certain. Many think he was Ewin--a good guess and a possibility. Brandon Cover art was commissioned when he was still a main character, and it was too late to change it when he was removed. Brandon Looks like the Fourth ta'veren was Dannil, in another form: http://bit.ly/h0iDIO (Look for Liandra's question.)4 Brandon Jason from @dragonmount says: "RJ once told me that Daniell's heroics ended up being done by the other Two Rivers boys." Azral Joe What role would the so-called 'Fourth' ta'veren have played if he had been wrritten into the story? Could you elaborate? Brandon I'd like to see the original drafts if I could. I do know RJ said his part was split among the other three. neonorange Is the fourth boy (Dannil)'s name pronounced dan-nil or daniel? Brandon I say the first. Brandon By the way, HCFF stands for "Hard Core Fan Freak" for those asking. They're self named. It's what many uber-wot-geeks call themselves.5 Brandon Ha. Thom showing up at night, and people grumbling, makes me smile now knowing about the unwritten prequel involving his arrival. Skyla Grimes Weren't there 2 other planned prequels that never made it? Will they ever see the light of day? Brandon Yes. But they probably won't be published, I'm afraid. Brandon For those asking, I'm not allowed to talk about the prequels yet. It's unlikely they'll be written. If they aren't, I'll see what I can say. Brandon First laugh: "She asked the Wisdom for directions this morning," Ewin said, "and called her 'child.'" Rand and Mat both whistled... Brandon If Mat could go back in time, he'd thump himself fawning over Moiraine in EotW. Then he'd fawn over Moiraine, but pretend he wasn't. Brandon "Strangers and a gleeman, fireworks and a peddler. It was going to be the best Bel Tine ever." Brandon Another thought: Cenn is right more often than wrong in these early chapters. Unexpected, as I think of him as a blowhard. Brandon Lol. From @ltnolan0347: "Trollocs and Aes Sedai, Dragon's Fang and Padan Fain. Worst Bel Tine ever... Brandon WoT statistics: Egwene appears for the first time about 7% into EotW. She is the first person to fold her arms beneath her breasts. Brandon As much as we like to talk about Robert Jordan using that phrase, I think that's the only time it appears in EotW. Brandon Amusing that, after all they've grown, Egwene and Rand's interaction in EotW 3 has many similarities to their interaction in TofM. Layla Messner Took me a moment to realize this phrase did not refer to Egwene's breasts ;) RT @BrandonSandrson: "Amusing that, after all they've grown..." Brandon Lol. You just about killed me with laughter on that one. E.G. Hornbostel Brandon, does Lan still sharpen his impossible-to-dull heron blade in the electronic edtion of EOTW? Brandon I actually have Robert Jordan's original word files; I need to get the new ebooks. Brandon And, here we have mention of Anla the Wise Counselor. For those not in the know, there is theorizing on her: http://bit.ly/f8s2T4 Felix At least one...problem with that link...in "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" RJ refers to Robert Heinlein in TGH. Brandon Didn't know that. Thanks. Shivam Bhatt Will we see any more of those awesome refs (Anla, Mosk and Merc, all the other tidbits) in the last book? Brandon There were some in my WoT books that I don't think have been caught yet. Brandon I fully expect this re-read to take until April. I need to divide my time among reading, outlining, and studying the notes. Non Sequituri Matt on Twitter - 3 January 2011 Probably RAFO, but will the voice from Tarwin's Gap battle in EOTW ever be explained? Brandon RAFO. :) Jeff Edde Interesting. In EotW, Rand uses Light & Power. Is it significant that he uses Light & Power again in ToM? Brandon Yes. Eiremauve Can Rand get the most POVs in AMoL, please? (bambi eyes, clasped hands) We were severely deprived in ToM :'(. (grovels) Brandon There will be more Rand VPs in the last book, I promise. Brandon Rand's lack of VPs in TofM was intentional. Much like his lessened VP role in The Dragon Reborn, and for similar reasons. Austin Moore Was the lack of Rand vps in ToM intended to show his change from other characters VPs? Brandon In part. There are other reasons. But that's part of it. Austin Moore One thing I'm a little confused about, if someone kills Rand, would that majorly affect Moridin because of the connection? Brandon Everything about the connection, or supposed connection, is a RAFO, I'm afraid. Austin Moore on Twitter - 3 January 2011 Has Demandred even been doing anything important besides building an army? (guessing it's in Murandy) Brandon He's been doing lots of important things. Austin Moore - 4 January 2011 Why do you think RJ straight up said that Taim wasn't Demandred when he could've just said RAFO and kept everyone guessing? Brandon I think he was tired of people all looking in the same place. Omar Subedar Who is your favorite member of the Chosen? Brandon Moridin. Followed by Demandred. Followed by Lanfear. Category:Interaction with Fans